The Charity Tribunal has upheld the Charity Commission’s decision to allow two independent schools in Lancashire to merge, but directed the regulator to amend the scheme underpinning the merger so that the schools cannot profit by using the premises for anything other than educating local children.

Companies House and the Charity Commission are looking at how they can accept the same sets of accounts and common annual returns, in an effort to reduce red tape for charities.

Marie Curie Cancer Care has officially opened its new national support centre in Pontypool, Wales, creating 140 new jobs in the process.

One of the major barriers to building a healthy and thriving civil society is the almost complete withdrawal from community activity of the “natural elite” such as solicitors and City bankers, Lord Phillips of Sudbury said yesterday.